To understand the language of the brain, we will need to monitor thousands and then tens and even hundreds of thousands of neurons networked across the brain. Nanotechnology promises to make this – and more – possible. The Kavli Foundation brought together four experts to discuss how nanotechnology is changing the way we measure brain activity.
In 2011, neuroscientists and nanoscientists had an idea for revolutionizing our understanding the brain. Now that idea is a national challenge, as President Obama's BRAIN Initiative seeks to decipher the neural code that gives rise to our perceptions and experience.
The focus on properties of single neurons was the driving force of neuroscience in the 1900s and remains so even today. But it has proved to be a limited approach.
